Do You Know the Way to San Jose?

Costa Rica is Spanish for "rich coast" and it's riches are its environment and people. Our tour guide told us that his nation was 92% literate, and while this country grew lots of bananas, it was no Banana Republic. American high tech companies like Intel operated large facilities to manufacture delicate electronic products, and the universities were well attended by people from throughout the Americas.

Dish type satellite antennas were legion, and indicated a higher standard of living of most residents. We did not see as many bars on windows, as we had in Columbia and Panama either. Eco-tourism and high technology being the main economic drivers, and no Army to fund, this nation has a lot going for it. It also has a significant American ex-pat community living inexpensively on it's Pacific side. We hope to see that part of Costa Rica in a future trip.

The nation abolished its Army in 1949, and is the longest running democracy in Latin America. It is the third ranked in the world (1st in the Americas) in terms of the Environmental Performance Index - a Columbia University environmental health and ecosystem measurement index. We came ashore at Puerto Limon, the only significant town on the Caribbean coast. While I did know the way to San Jose, this nation's capital, it was 100 kilometers/60 miles distant and we only ventured a short distance into the interior.

On this day, we took a jungle ecology tour where we spotted howler monkeys, three-toed sloths, birds and bats - all in the tree canopy. I'd include pictures, except every critter is so darned high up, you'd be looking at them and still not seeing them. Hence, I chose to picture the colorful plumage of this native combo playing the local version of "Jungle Boogie". While they were no Kool & The Gang, their lyrics were just as simple to "get down" to. The flowers here were just downright beautiful too - Costa Rica definitely is on the list for further inspection at a later time.